


Always by Your Side

by Riddle_of_the_sphinx



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Although the enemy line is rather blurred right from the start, Chazz doesn't have the best home life, Chazz's brothers are awful, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff and Angst, Idiots in Love, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Taking a lot of inspiration from the Yu-Gi-Oh! Tag Force games here, duel spirit partner shenanigans, elements of the manga will be added, gx rivalshipping, the boys are a bit slow at figuring out their feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-02-16 00:23:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21498796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riddle_of_the_sphinx/pseuds/Riddle_of_the_sphinx
Summary: The second Chazz and Jaden laid eyes on each other their destinies became intertwined. By all accounts they should hate each other, but instead they slowly fall in love. However, the road of love is a rocky one. Duel Academy is headed toward troubled times, and the boys will be caught in the middle of it. Life is going to get complicated, but if they stick together they might just survive…
Relationships: Manjoume Jun | Chazz Princeton/Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki
Comments: 11
Kudos: 35





	1. It started with a Winged Kuriboh

**Author's Note:**

> I will eventually have this story posted up on Fanfiction.Net under the name Jet Set Radio Yoyo, so you will see this story there as well.

_‘This was a waste of time.’_

That’s all Chazz could think of as he stared down at the large dueling arena that was before him. He had been sitting here for two hours now watching hundreds of duels play out in front of them, and none of the duels filled him with any sort of excitement or intrigue. It was just a full two hours filled with simple mind-numbing duels, and teachers asking the Duel Academy hopefuls questions that were so easy that a toddler could answer them. Honestly Chazz shouldn’t have expected much. These tests were being held to see if the kids who took them were capable enough to handle going to a school dedicated to dueling. There would be no dueling masters here, and the teachers who were testing the students would not be using their best decks. Still, Chazz had been hoping to get a bit of entertainment out of this. It’s not like he was here because he wanted to be. A lot of the students who were coming into Duel Academy from the preparatory duel schools were ‘asked’ to watch the entrance exams along with second and third year Duel Academy students.

“The Chancellor thinks it would be good for you all to see what your future competition will be like. You might learn something from how they duel.” Crowler had told the students when they were trying to find their seats.

From the tone of his voice it sounded like Crowler thought it was just as much a waste of time to have the kids watch this as Chazz did. The only thing Chazz was learning from all of this was that he didn’t have anything to fear from any of the new students that had passed the dueling part of their exam. Chazz let out a soft sigh as he leaned back in his seat. He didn’t know if he was disappointed by that fact or not. Deep down Chazz had to admit that he almost wished that there was someone among the first years who could give him a challenge. Someone who could push him to his limits. Someone who would force him to come up with new strategies, and really give him a duel to remember. Yet, at the same time Chazz didn’t want that. If his brothers ever learned that Chazz was having any sort of difficulty with anyone they would not be happy. When his brothers weren’t happy they let Chazz know it in more ways than one. Chazz would rather not deal with that if he could help it.

Chazz was dragged out of his thoughts when he heard in explosion in one of the duel fields. It looked like one of the kids just won his dueling exam. 

“Wow, he’s pretty good don’t you think Chazz?” Chazz heard one of his companions say. 

“Guess the rumors of him being some sort of whiz kid are true,” His other companion said. 

Chazz could only shrug upon hearing that. He had heard the rumors about some smart kid getting top scores on the written part of the entrance exam for Duel Academy. Chazz couldn’t remember the kid’s complete name. All he could remember was the fact that his name was Bastion. Chazz couldn’t bring himself to care too much about Bastion. While Bastion’s test scores were admirable the duel that he was in was unmemorable. Although, that could have more to do with the deck that Bastion was dueling against rather than Bastion himself. Duels against decks made for testing were usually rather dull. Test decks lacked the personal touch that most decks had, and they were rarely made to give a true challenge.

Chazz frowned and said “He’s a punk. We went to duel prep school for three years so we are ready for the Academy. These kids don’t know what they are getting into, but they will learn the hard way. The Chazz Princeton way.”

His lackeys seemed satisfied with his words, and their brief moment of excitement from Bastion’s duel was quickly forgotten about.

Chazz looked over at his glasses wearing companion and asked “Taiyou, is this little show almost over?” 

Taiyou pulled his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the time. “It should be. All we have to do is wait for the last duelist to finish.”

Chazz nodded upon hearing that, but said nothing else. It was good to know that this whole thing would finally be over soon. It didn’t take long for the last of the duels to finish up, and by the time the last student slunk off of the field Chazz was itching to get out of the building. However, when the intercom came on he didn’t hear the dismissal that he so longed for. Instead he heard something else entirely. 

**Jaden Yuki report to duel arena four. Jaden Yuki please report to duel arena four.**

“That wasn’t a dismissal.” Chazz muttered as he shot Taiyou an annoyed look.

“Maybe the kid came in late?” Taiyou said with a shrug.

“They accept late applicants? I thought last year they refused entry for anyone who came in even a second late.” Chazz heard his brown haired companion say. 

“I heard that was mostly Crowler’s fault. I hear he kicked a few kids out of the exams just for not calling him Doctor Crowler.” Taiyou said.

“Seriously? There’s no way that happened.” The brunet said in disbelief.

“I’m telling the truth Raizou!” Taiyou snapped. 

Chazz ignored the chattering of the two boys in favor of staring down at duel arena four. Chazz couldn’t help but stare with wide eyes when he saw Crowler of all people step out onto the dueling field. 

_‘Speak of the devil and the devil shall arrive.’_ Chazz thought with an amused snort.

“Is that Crowler?” Raizou asked.

“I didn’t think he tested the students during the exams,” Taiyou said as he frowned. 

“He doesn’t.” Chazz answered. 

A few seconds later the Jaden kid that Crowler was going to duel against stepped out into the field. The word cheerful was the very first thing to spring into Chazz’s mind upon spotting the kid. The smile that he had on his face looked like it was ready to break into a full on grin at any second, and the kid just seemed to be vibrating with energy as he took his spot in the dueling arena. Even from the distance that Chazz was sitting at he could see the boy’s brown eyes just seem to glow with excitement.

_‘The kid looks like the very definition of bright eyed and bushy tailed.’_ Chazz thought.

A scowl briefly crossed his face as he thought _‘That cheerfulness won’t last against Crowler.’_

As if to confirm Chazz’s thoughts the very first thing that Jaden said to Crowler was an insult said without any thought at all. 

“Wow, a department chair I had no idea! From how you were dressed I thought you were some weird Academy mascot.” The boy had said the second after Crowler had introduced himself. The audience sitting in the arena had two different reactions to that. Some of them just stared at the boy in shock unable to process the gull that this kid had. Others were trying to hide their amusement at what they heard with varying degrees of success.

“Now that he mentions it Crowler does kind of look like...” Chazz heard Taiyou mutter to himself only to trail off. 

“Wow, this kid has some lip.” Raizou said sounding almost impressed by how this Jaden kid could say such a thing to Crowler’s face. 

Chazz couldn’t help but mentally agree with him. This Jaden kid was either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid. Chazz had a feeling that the kid was probably both. The duel started pretty quickly after that. When Jaden put the Elemental Hero Avian down on the field Chazz couldn’t help but think that the card somehow suited him. He looked like the type of person who would be drawn to hero themed cards.

 _‘That kid better be good with those hero cards because there is no way Crowler is using a test deck.’_ Chazz thought.

Chazz was proven right about his assumption that Crowler wasn’t using a test deck when Crowler’s trap car Statue of the Wicked came into play. There was no way that cards like that would be in a test deck, and the surprised gasps and shocked looks that Chazz was seeing and hearing just proved that everyone else has also just figured that out.

“A card that strong couldn’t be in the test decks. Crolwer must be using his own.” Taiyou said. 

Chazz just rolled his eyes upon hearing that. 

“You really think Crowler would waste his time testing any of these losers?” Chazz asked.

“Well….” Taiyou muttered out, but he didn’t really say anything beyond that.

“The only reason Crowler stepped out onto the dueling field was to shame this kid in front of everyone,” Chazz said as he crossed his arms.

“Then this duel was over before it began. No applicant could beat the deck of an expert like Doctor Crowler,” Raizou said. 

“Exactly,” Chazz said with a nod of his head. “This duel will just be good for a laugh.” 

Chazz felt pretty confidant when he said that, but even so Jaden wasn’t exactly acting like he was in trouble. Jaden should have been worried upon seeing such cards used. The gasps of shock from the crowed should have been his clue that things weren’t right with Crowler’s deck. Yet, Jaden didn’t look worried. He looked excited.

“Ready for your next lesson?” Crowler asked with a smirk.

Jaden actually had the gull to laugh and enthusiastically call out “You bet! I can’t remember the last time learning was this much fun!” 

Crowler seemed unhappy by Jaden’s answer, but brushed it off easily enough. He sacrificed the tokens that his cards had summoned to bring out his Ancient Gear Golem. Chazz couldn’t help but stare at the rare monster. It was only the second turn of the duel and he already had his best card out on the field. He could hear the gasps and murmurs of the crowd as they admired the rare card. Crowler seemed to be enjoying the looks of wonder that his monster was getting. He sounded downright smug as he told Jaden “I hope you aren’t too scared of my legendary Ancient Gear Golem.”

“No way! I’ve always wanted to take one on!” Jaden exclaimed.

Again the crowd gasped, but this time they were amazed by Jaden’s confidence rather than by Crowler’s monster. Chazz sat up a bit straighter and stared at the Jaden kid. He sounded so confidant. So excited to be able to go up against a rare monster card. 

_‘Maybe this duel will be more interesting than I thought.’_ Chazz thought.

He was quick to shake that thought away. Being confidant didn’t mean victory. Crowler could still smash this kid like a bug, and he seemed to be doing just that when he ordered his Golem to attack Jaden’s Avian. The winged monster let out a cry of pain when it was hit, and Jaden stumbled back a few steps when the Golem’s effect caused his life points to drop to 2000. 

Again instead of looking worried Jaden looked thrilled. He just laughed away the loss of life points and said “Now I really want to go to this school! You really know your stuff!” 

Crowler looked annoyed upon hearing that.

Chazz was just fascinated.

How could this kid be so happy? Why wasn’t he worried? Why did having his life points fall so low so fast do nothing but fan the flames of Jaden’s excitement? If Chazz had been in Jaden’s shoes he would have been annoyed that he had to deal with such a monster so soon in a duel. He would have been angry that his life points were dropped down so low so quickly. However, it was clear that Jaden was nothing like Chazz when it came to duels. Jaden seemed to be having the time of his life right now. He seemed to be having fun. 

_‘When was the last time you had fun like that when you dueled?’_ A tiny voice in the back of Chazz’s head asked.

Chazz sort of hated the fact that he didn’t have an answer for that question. If Chazz was being truthful he hadn’t had fun playing Duel Monsters for a long time now. A twinge of envy hit Chazz as he watched Jaden have fun with this duel. It must have been nice to be that easygoing. It must have been nice to not have to worry about two brothers breathing down your neck ready to strike you down if you even made what they thought was a slight mistake. Chazz quickly shook his head to rid himself of his thoughts and tried to focus his attention on the duel. By the time Chazz actually started paying attention again Jaden had already played a monster in defense mode along with a facedown card. Strangely, the card on the field was not an Elemental Hero. Instead it was a Winged Kuriboh of all things. Maybe not too odd on its own since the monster had a nice enough effect, but there was something strange about this monster. It was looking around the arena like a rambunctious puppy examining its new surroundings. 

The technology that created the duel monster holograms had really come a long way since Duelist Kingdom. Nowadays the holograms were very animated, and they seemed almost lifelike. However, there were still limits on the technology. While on the field doing nothing monsters were usually pretty static. They were not completely absent of life, but beyond letting out the occasional growl or twitch of an appendage they didn’t do much. Yet, somehow this Winged Kuriboh seemed truly alive. Its wings fluttered and twitched to keep it in the air. When it fluttered too close to the ground it would kick its feet against the floor as if to give itself a little boost to get back into the air. It swayed slightly as it looked around giving it the impression that it was trying to see everything that it possibly could. It blinked often, and Chazz could see it moving its gaze from one thing to the other. Monster cards were usually animated, but they were never this lifelike. Would someone really go through such an effort to make a level one monster like that act so lifelike?

Chazz couldn’t help but freeze up a bit when the Winged Kuriboh looked at him. The monster kept its gaze locked onto Chazz, and it was staring right into Chazz’s dark gray eyes. The monster wasn’t just looking in his general area it was staring at him specifically. The furry little creature stared at him before letting out a soft delighted coo. It was like it was happy that Chazz seemed to notice that there was something special about it. Chazz jerked back in surprise when the happily cooing creature was suddenly smashed to pieces by Ancient Gear Golem. His back slammed into his seat so hard it actually made a loud metallic creaking sound. A few people who were sitting around Chazz turned away from the dueling field to look at him. Chazz must have looked a sight. His eyes were wide, and his jaw had dropped a little from shock. He had been so busy examining the Winged Kuriboh that he had pretty much forgotten that a duel was even happening. 

Raizou gave Chazz a concerned look as he asked “You OK Chazz?” 

Instead of answering the question Chazz asked “Did that Winged Kuriboh seem weird to you?”

“Weird how?” Taiyou asked in confusion. 

Chazz was starting to feel a bit ridicules now, but he couldn’t stop himself from continuing with his questions. 

“Did it seem more lifelike to either one of you?” He asked.

“It looked fine to me.” Raizou said without much thought.

“Yeah, I didn’t see anything wrong with it.” Taiyou commented. “Did you see something wrong with it Chazz?” 

“J-just forget it.” Chazz muttered as stared down at the dueling field.

His two goons knew that when Chazz said to drop a subject it was best to do just that unless they wanted him to start yelling at them.

 _‘I had to have been imagining things.’_ Chazz thought.

Somehow that thought did little to calm him. He had a hard time believing that he had just imagining things, but at the same time he didn’t want to question it. It’s not like it mattered so why question it? Well, whatever was up with that card it didn’t matter. The duel was moving on even with its absence. Crolwer’s attack set off Jaden’s trap card A Hero Emerges and Elemental Hero Burstinatrix appeared on the field from a tornado of flame. When the fires died down she let out a war cry and took her battle stance. It was Jaden’s turn now, and the second he drew a card he started to grin.

The rest of Jaden’s turn went by fast. With the use of a spell card Jaden brought his Elemental Hero Avian back out onto the field. The second the winged monster’s feet touched the ground Jaden used his Polymerization card to fuse his two heroes together and create Flame Wingman. Then before Chazz could take the time to process any of this Jaden slapped down the field spell Skyscraper. The cityscape completely took over the duel field as the field spell took effect, and Flamed Wingman looked like a comic book character that came to life as it stood at the top of a skyscraper glaring down at Crowler and his monster.

“It’s over….” Chazz found himself murmuring without even meaning to.

Flame Wingman’s attack was usually only 2100, but with the effect of Skyscraper his attack was boosted by 1000 points. Not only that, but Flame Wingman’s effect meant that the attack of the monster that it destroyed would be dealt as damage to the destroyed monster’s owner. Crowler had already sacrificed some life points at the beginning of the duel to use a spell card which meant that having his Golem defeated by Wingman was all that Jaden needed to do to net a victory. The writing was on the wall, but Chazz still couldn’t believe it.

All Chazz could do was watch with wide eyes as Flame Wingman destroyed Crowler’s legendary monster. What made the thing even more crazy was the fact that Jaden was able to win the duel so quickly. Chazz had to grudgingly admit that duel had been interesting, but it had been interesting for more than just having a new student beat Crowler of all people. The cheering the people were giving for Jaden’s victory was downright deafening, and Jaden seemed to be eating it up. Chazz scowled as he stood up and started to leave the stands.

“Chazz?” He heard his lackeys call out to him.

“It was a fluke. The kid only won because of dumb luck.” Chazz spat out. 

He was able to say that easily, but on the inside he didn’t feel confident about what he said. Chazz didn’t say anything else as he hastily left the area. He heard his goons call out his name again, but he ignored it. He needed to go splash some water on his face or something to calm down, and he certainly didn’t need his two followers around to do that…

\-------------------

“Why were you so weird about that duel?”

That was the first question Chazz asked himself as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. Upon hearing the question out loud it started to feel a bit more complicated than it had any right to. That duel had been amazing as much as Chazz hated to admit it. That Jaden kid should have lost. Crowler had gotten his prized monster out on the field in record time. He had been dominating the duel almost to the very end. Yet, for all of Crowler's skill and great cards he still lost. He was beaten by a kid who showed no fear at all, and when confronted by the Ancient Gear Golem card all he did was laugh and exclaim that he had always wanted to go up against such a legendary card. Chazz wanted to say that the only way a kid like that could win against Crowler was with sheer dumb luck, but that just made Chazz feel like he was lying to himself. 

Luck was a factor of Duel Monsters. It always was, but luck could only take you so far. If you didn’t have a good deck you wouldn’t go anywhere in the dueling world, and even if you did have a good deck you couldn’t do anything with it unless you had a knowledge on how to use it. Chazz sighed as he ran his hand down his face.

“This isn’t something to get so worked up about.” He muttered to himself.

It really wasn’t. Annoyance at how happy go lucky Jaden seemed to be was expected from someone like Chazz. Chazz being annoyed wasn’t unexpected, but getting so worked up about the duel was odd. Although, truthfully the duel itself wasn’t the only reason why he was so worked up about it. That weird Winged Kuriboh was still fresh in his mind, and his mind refused to forget it. It was too lifelike. Chazz had dueled against a few people who owned Winged Kuribohs, and none of them acted like the one Jaden had. Usually all they did was just sort of float in place and stay silent only letting out a cry when they were destroyed, or when they were summoned out onto the field. They didn’t look around at their surroundings like a curious child, they didn’t move so much, and they sure as heck didn’t let out happy little cooing sounds when it saw someone that seemed to peek its interest. Chazz hadn’t imagined what he saw. He just knew he hadn’t imagined it. It all just felt too odd. 

_‘It also feels a bit familiar.’_ Chazz thought as he started to scowl.

The Winged Kuriboh gave him a strange feeling, and weirdly it felt like a familiar feeling. It wasn’t so much the monster that gave him that feeling so much as the strange vibe that he was getting from it. He felt like he had seen something like it before. It’s just too bad that Chazz couldn’t remember where he had seen such a phenomenon. Any attempts to remember just resulted in him drawing up blanks, and the fact that he couldn’t remember why it seemed familiar was extremely agitating.

“Just forget it.” Chazz muttered to himself as he started to walk out of the restroom. 

He was being stupid. The only reason he saw what he saw was probably due to stress and lack of sleep. His brothers had been harping on about how he had to be the number one duelist among the first years rather often lately. The stress from that was probably getting to him and making him more irritable than usual. At least that’s what Chazz was willing to pass the problem off as at any rate. He would be going to Duel Academy next week, and he just knew that putting some distance between himself and his brothers would do him a world of good. Feeling a bit happy at that thought Chazz was willing to let his thoughts about Jaden’s duel go. Of course he wasn’t destined to forget about it for long. Upon stepping out of the bathroom he walked right into the very boy who caused his irritation in the first place. The collusion caused Chazz to fall and hit the ground pretty hard. 

“Man, I’m sorry! I seem to be accidentally knocking people off of their feet a lot today.” 

Chazz felt an angry retort start to form in his mind, but upon opening his eyes the words died before they could make their way out of his mouth. Standing there before him was Jaden Yuki. Jaden looked rather apologetic as he held his hand out toward Chazz as in offer to help him back onto his feet. Chazz just glared at the boy and shoved his hand away from him. The boy seemed unbothered by the rejection of his help which just served to annoy Chazz even more.

“Maybe if you paid attention to where you were going you would stop running people over!” Chazz grumbled as he stood up. 

“You are probably right,” The brown eyed boy said apparently not even bothered by Chazz snapping at him.

As Chazz brushed some dust off of his uniform he heard Jaden ask “Hey, so you’re a student at Duel Academy right?”

Chazz just huffed a bit in annoyance as he asked “What gave it away? The uniform?” 

Jaden again brushed off Chazz’s attitude with a smile and asked “So what year are you?”

“First year.” Chazz said slowly. “Why?” 

“Just curious.” Jaden said.

His smile grew a bit bigger as he said “Anyway, it’s awesome to meet another kid who will be in the same year as me. Maybe once we are at Duel Academy we can duel each other?” 

“Yeah, keep dreaming loser.” Chazz said.

He was about to walk away, but the sudden urge to ask about the Kuriboh card rushed over him. It was probably pointless to try, but it’s not like it would hurt to ask. 

“Hey, is there something special about your Winged Kuriboh?”

“Special?”

“Like it seemed more lively on the field then monster cards usually are. Was it programmed to be like that?”

Jaden’s smile faded to be replaced by a thoughtful look. 

“Yeah, I noticed that too.” Jaden said as he opened up his deck case and pulled a card out. 

Chazz felt a small bit of relief upon hearing that. If Jaden was saying that then that meant Chazz wasn’t just imagining things. Once Jaden had his card out Chazz could see that it was the Winged Kuriboh card. It looked like a totally normal card. Chazz couldn’t see anything that would suggest that the card was special in any way. 

Chazz looked up at Jaden when he heard Jaden murmur “I don’t think it’s been adjusted at all, but...”

“But…?” Chazz said slowly. 

Jaden smiled almost sheepishly as he said “I was given the card randomly when I was on my way here to take the dueling exam. The man who gave it to me told me that the card seemed like it belonged to me.” 

“You’re kidding me,” Chazz said before he could stop himself. 

He just got the card today? From some random guy of all places? That card helped him get the time he needed to draw the cards he needed to win the duel. Without it Jaden probably would have lost the duel. The fact that he was just lucky enough to get the card today of all days was insane. 

_‘Maybe he only won due to luck after all.’_ Chazz thought.

He felt a twinge of disappointment that his luck theory seemed to hold some water, but that feeling was gone was quickly as it appeared. Chazz was broken out of his thoughts when he heard Jaden start to speak again.

“Yeah, I got it from-“ 

Chazz quickly cut him off by saying “Save it. I don’t care where you got your card from.” 

He really didn’t care. It was obvious that Jaden didn’t know what was up with his card either. No answers would be found from him so why waste any more time with him? Chazz brushed past Jaden more than ready to leave the building and get away from the kid with the confusing card.

“See you at Duel Academy?” Jaden calls out to him. 

He sounds unsure as if he didn’t know if he should say that to Chazz.

“Yeah, sure.” Is Chazz’s mindless answer. 

Personally, Chazz was hoping that they would not interact again. However, Chazz doubted he would be that lucky. They would probably end up having a few classes together, and there was a chance that they would have to duel against each other. As much as Chazz didn’t like it he knew he would see Jaden again it was only a matter of time….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I didn’t write out the duel here since the duel itself wasn’t really important. What was important was Chazz’s reactions, and that’s what I chose to focus on. As far as duels go in this story I’ll write some duels out while others will be glossed over. It really depends on how important the duel is.
> 
> Anyway, this is my first time writing any Yu-Gi-Oh! story so I might stumble now and again, but please bare with me as I try to get a hang on it.


	2. Dumb luck, or something more?

“I want to welcome all to your new home here in the Obelisk Blue Dorms! Please take your time to get settled into your new rooms, and take the time to explore the school grounds as well. With that said please remember that the Obelisk Welcome Dinner will be held at eight tonight so don’t be late!”

Crowler’s words went in one ear and out the other as Chazz stared down at his school issued PDA. The PDA had been handed over to him not too long ago, and Chazz found it much more interesting then listening to Crowler’s overly long welcome speech. The PDA was a simple enough gadget. It had a map of the school grounds including a floor maps for the buildings. It also had calendar on it that already had special days like that of school events, exam days, and holiday breaks marked down. The option to create your own marks on the calendar was there as well, but Chazz ignored that. As things were now he didn’t have much use for that feature. It’s not like he had close friends whose birthdays he had to remember. 

He briefly toyed with the idea of adding Taiyou and Rizou’s birthdays to the calendar only to dismiss it. It’s not they did much for each other’s birthday. They just brought each other a bunch of card packs and called it a night. Chazz could remember their birthdays just fine on his own anyway. Besides the calendar there was also a memo that listed events that didn’t have a set date yet, and it listed the opening and closing hours of places like the Card Shop and the Reference Room. Most of the things on the list were just club activates that he didn’t care about. His brothers wanted him to focus on dueling so he didn’t have the time to join clubs.

There were two things on the list that caught Chazz’s attention, but much to his displeasure there was painfully little information on them in the list. The first thing that caught his eye was the Interscholastic Duel. All the memo said on that the date for that duel was undecided. Chazz knew that there were many schools dedicated to dueling out there in the world so Chazz imagined that it was possible that this duel was supposed to be Duel Academy going up against another school although what school that was Chazz had no idea. The next thing he noticed on the list of events was something called the Tag Force Tournament. The tag part seemed to suggest that it involved tag dueling, but that’s all that Chazz could figure out. 

_‘I’ll do more research on those things later.’_ Chazz thought as he left the schedule and looked at the rest of the things that the PDA had.

There was an Email system where you could leave video messages to other students or faculty members. A Status Menu kept track of your duel record, how many Duel Points you had, and your duelist level. However, the most intriguing thing was the Deck Menu. There he could register deck recipes, and he had a list that registered what cards he owned that was very easy to search through. It even had a list that told you what cards were banned or limited. Chazz got completely absorbed in registering some deck recipes that he used often. He was so absorbed in doing this that he didn’t even notice that Crowler had finished his speech and that a majority of the students had left to explore the school grounds.

“Chazz?”

Chazz froze for a few seconds upon hearing his name. He slowly lifted his head up only to see Taiyou and Rizou standing there in front of him. 

“You OK? I have been calling your name for a while now.” Taiyou said.

“I’m fine.” Chazz snapped. 

He quickly slid his PDA into his pocket as Rizou asked “So what do you want to do? We got a lot of time until the Welcome Diner starts.”

“You think the card shop is open?” Taiyou asked. “I want to check that place out and see what sort of card packs they carry.”

“I doubt it,” Chazz said as he stood up. “I don’t think they open the store until the first official school day.”

Taiyou looked a bit disappointed to hear that, and Chazz had to admit he was a bit disappointed too. He wanted to see what the store was like as well, but the PDA said the store wouldn’t open until Monday. Since it was Friday they still had a few days to go until the Card Shop was open.

“Want to go check out the Obelisk Duel Fields?” Rizou asked. 

Chazz shrugged upon hearing that and said “Sure.” 

As long as they did something other than stand there Chazz didn’t really care where they went. Taiyou seemed to brighten up a bit at the thought of going to the duel fields.

“I hear the Obelisk fields are state of the art.” Taiyou said as he smiled.

“They better be. Obelisk students like us deserve the very best.” Chazz said as he started to walk to their destination. 

Taiyou and Raizou quickly fell in step behind him. It didn’t take long to reach the school building. Out of all of the dorms the Obelisk Blue dorms where the closest to the school. Upon reaching the Obelisk Blue Dueling fields Chazz found that it looked fine. It was large and spacious with great lighting and plenty of seats for spectators. Still, Chazz didn’t think it was anything to write home about.

“Well, what do you think Chazz?” Raizou asked as he looked Chazz waiting to see what the black haired boy’s response would be. 

“It’s adequate,” Chazz said as he climbed the steps that would take him to the stands.

“I got to admit when they said it was high tech I was expecting this place to look more impressive.” Taiyou said as he stepped up onto the dueling field. 

“What exactly where you expecting?” Chazz asked as he sat down in one of the seats and pulled out his PDA. 

“I don’t know. I think I was expecting it to be just as fancy as the Obelisk Blue Dorms are.” Taiyou answered. 

“It’s a school dueling field, Taiyou. They wouldn’t bother to make this place look like a Pro Duelist dueling field.” Raizou said.

Taiyou didn’t respond to that. Instead he just asked “Well, we saw the dueling field. Should we keep exploring the school?” 

“And see what? All the classrooms will look the same so what’s the point?” Chazz asked as he opened up the Deck Menu of his PDA. 

Taiyou didn’t have a reply to that.

“We could explore the school grounds.” Raizou suggested. 

“You really want to go hiking through the woods?” Chazz asked without looking up from his PDA. 

Raizou sighed before he said “Not really.” 

Chazz heard Taiyou mutter “There really isn’t much to do, huh?” 

“You two could always duel each other if you are bored.” Chazz suggested without much thought. 

The two were silent for a moment, but after a few seconds had passed by Chazz heard Raizou say “So you want to flip a coin to decide who goes first?” 

“Yeah, you got a coin?” 

Chazz never got to hear if Raizou had a coin or not because without warning the sound of a rather familiar male voice could be heard yelling out in excitement.

“This is the sweetest dueling arena that I have ever seen!”

Chazz almost dropped his PDA upon hearing that voice. 

_‘That can’t be him. I can’t have run into Jaden already.’_ He thought as he looked up. 

Sure enough there was Jaden approaching the dueling arena with a large grin on his face. Trailing slowly behind him was a boy with sky blue hair and silver eyes. Jaden looked downright thrilled to be there. The blue haired boy looked like he would rather be anywhere else but there. They were both wearing red jackets which meant that they were in Slifer Red. The lowest dorm of them all.

That surprised Chazz a little. He didn’t think Jaden would be in Slifer Red of all places. He figured with how well he did in his duel he would be in Ra Yellow. Yet, here he was in a red jacket. Even if his written test grade was abysmal he should have still been able to get into Ra Yellow. Granted he would probably have just barely made it into Ra, but he still should have made it. He beat a teacher in a duel when the teacher was using his own personal deck. That should have shown that the kid had some potential. Yet, here he was in a Slifer Red jacket. 

_‘Would Crowler have made sure that he ended up in Slifer Red as punishment for humiliating him?’_ Chazz wondered.

After thinking about it for about five seconds he quickly decided that Crowler probably would do that. The man had been less than thrilled about losing to the kid in front of a large crowd. Not that Chazz could blame him for it. If their roles were reversed, he knew he wouldn’t be all that nice to the kid either. Chazz slowly stood up and shoved his PDA into his pocket. Jaden and his little companion hadn’t noticed that he was there yet, but they would know soon enough. Raizou and Taiyou were glaring down at Jaden and his friend like they were trash that deserved to be stomped on.

“What are you two doing here?” Raizou asked as he marched toward Jaden and his friend. 

“Yeah, this is the Obelisk Blue campus which means no Slifer Red rejects are allowed here.” Taiyou said. 

Jaden’s little friend flinched a bit at the reject name, but Jaden seemed unaffected. Not surprising. Jaden didn’t seem to affected by much.

Raizou pointed at the Obelisk Blue crest that was above the entrance of the arena and said “Check out the crest. That marks this place as Obelisk territory.”

“And that crest means Slifer Red students aren’t allowed to use this arena. So get lost.” Taiyou growled out.

“Sorry, we were just looking around.” The blue haired kid said as he looked over at Jaden. “We’ll go ahead and leave.” 

The blue haired boy looked ready to race right out of the arena, but apparently Jaden had different plans.

“Nah, we don’t have to leave.” Jaden said as he looked at Taiyou and Raizou. 

They looked like they were about to let Jaden know just how wrong he was, but before they could utter a word Jaden said “It’s alright for us to be here as long as one of you guys agree to duel me!” 

Jaden looked excited at the idea of a duel while Chazz’s goons just looked confused. It wasn’t often that a Slifer would challenge an Obelisk student to a duel. Jaden was brave to challenge someone so high up on the pecking order, and Chazz had to respect that a little.

After a few seconds had passed realization of just who they were talking must have suddenly hit Chazz’s two goons because Chazz heard Taiyou suddenly shout “Hey, you’re that kid!”

“Chazz, that kid who beat Doctor Crowler is here!” Raizou yelled up to him. 

“I already noticed that Raizou.” Chazz said walked down to where they were all gathered. “It’s a little hard to miss all of your jabbering.” 

As Chazz approached a look of recognition appeared on Jaden’s face.

“It’s you again!” Jaden said in surprise.

“You know this loser?” Raizou asked in surprise.

“We ran into each other after he had his duel with Crowler.” Chazz answered. 

Jaden at least had the decency to look a bit embarrassed at the reminder of him slamming into Chazz. Jaden was able to shake that embarrassment off pretty quick as he said “Anyway, your name is Chazz? Why don’t we have a duel Chazz?”

Raizou and Taiyou started laughing upon hearing that. Like the idea of Jaden dueling Chazz was absurd. Chazz stayed silent, and just allowed them to laugh. Once their laughter finally quieted down Taiyou said “Chazz would crush you in a duel. Chazz was the number one duelist in Duel Prep School, so what makes you think you would have a ghost of a chance against him?” 

“Yeah, he’s going to be the future King of Games!” Raizou said. 

A brief feeling of pride started to swell up inside of Chazz has he heard those words of praise. It felt good to be recognized for his talents and hard work. He had been the best duelist at Duel Prep School, and that spot has number one had not been easily earned. Maybe it didn’t mean much coming from his lackeys, but it still felt pretty nice to hear. Unfortunately, Chazz didn’t get to enjoy the words of praise for long.

“Impossible.” Jaden said as he frowned. 

“What do you mean by that?” Raizou snapped. 

“It’s impossible for Chazz to become the future King of Games because that’s exactly what I’m going to be.”

 _‘Alright, I had it with this kid’s attitude,’_ Chazz thought in annoyance. He didn’t know if he should say that Jaden was overconfident or just extremely arrogant, but Chazz supposed it didn’t matter what it was. All he did know was that this kid needed to be knocked down a few pegs. 

“You were able to beat Crowler and his legendary monster, but you know that duel left me with a question.” Chazz said. 

“What question would that be?” Jaden asked. 

“Did you win the game through skill, or did you win through pure dumb luck?” Chazz asked as he smirked.

“Well, if you duel me I think you’ll find your answer.” Jaden said with smile of his own. 

“My thoughts exactly.” Chazz said. 

Both boys were ready to go, but before they could even take a step toward the arena a voice called out to them. 

“Well, you guys are certainly a motley crew.”

Chazz turned to see that the voice had come from Alexis. She had her arms crossed, and she looked less then pleased by the fact that Chazz was picking a fight with a Slifer student.

“Hey Alexis have you come to watch me mop the floor with my new little friend Jaden?” Chazz asked.

Alexis just rolled her eyes and let out a small sigh of irritation. The look on her face made it rather clear that she found interacting with Chazz to be a chore that she wished she didn’t have to do. Chazz had to admit it stung a little, but he couldn’t bring himself to care too much. Alexis had made it abundantly clear in Duel Prep School that she didn’t much care for Chazz or his attitude. Transferring from Duel Prep School into Duel Academy wasn’t going to suddenly make her like him at all. The fact that she didn’t seem to like him much used to hurt back when he still had a crush on the girl, but constant rejection had a way of killing crushes and dulling hurt feelings. 

Alexis placed her hands on her hips and said in a rather clipped tone of voice “I’m here to remind you about the Obelisk welcome dinner. You’re late.”

“Oh yeah.” Chazz said with a sigh. 

He had forgotten all about that. 

“Come on guys let’s go,” Chazz said as he turned and started to walk out of the arena. 

As he walked away he heard Alexis speak to Jaden.

“Sorry if Chazz rubbed you the wrong way. All of us Obelisks aren’t like that. He’s just a jerk.” 

Chazz felt another small sting of pain upon hearing his formal crush say that, but that feeling didn’t last. It didn’t matter what she thought of him. Chazz could hear Jaden respond to what she said, but he didn’t stick around to hear exactly what he said. It didn’t matter what Jaden thought of him. Chazz would beat the kid in a duel soon enough, and when he did Jaden would become just another tally mark on Chazz’s long list of victories.... 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

The Obelisk Blue welcome party was in full swing, and it was everything that Chazz had expected. It was essentially a high-end cocktail party. The food was extravagant things prepared by five star chefs. The drinks were overpriced bubbly things that was hand made with fruits grown on a high class orchard somewhere in France or some other far away land that sounded nice.

The chattering of the students were the typical conversations a person should expect from rich kids at a party. Bragging about their riches and possessions was what most of the conversations seemed to revolve around. Everyone just seemed to want to brag about their expensive cards, their family’s expensive vacations to exotic locations, and whatever else they thought was worth bragging about. Of course a party filled with the kids of the rich and famous wouldn’t be complete without gossip about other rich families. From where Chazz was standing he could hear snippets of people speaking mostly negative words about their fellow students.

_I hear his family was barely able to afford to get him into Obelisk Blue. Honestly, if he’s not good enough to get into Obelisk with his own skills then his parents shouldn’t waste what little of their fortune that they have left to get him here._

_He was supposed to take up running the family business, but instead he came here to become a professional duelist. I heard his family disapproves of this so much that they are talking about disowning him._

_I hear he took up dueling because it’s all that he’s good at. If he tried to run his family’s company, he would just run it into the ground._

On and on it went, and the more Chazz heard the more bored Chazz got. He heard all of this stuff enough back at home did he have to hear it here too? Sprinkled into the topics were ones that were more pleasant to listen to. Some excited students traded dueling tips, deck recipe ideas, and card combination ideas instead of trading gossip. Others happily talked about their favorite card effects, or they talked about card art that they were rather fond of. Chazz even saw a few students trade cards. Those cheery conversations were the only thing that kept this party from being a carbon copy of every single cocktail party that the Princeton family hosted. Chazz sighed as he slumped against the wall and took a big gulp of his drink.

“You OK, Chazz?” Taiyou asked.

“I’m just peachy,” Chazz grumbled into his glass.

“I bet he’s just angry about that Slifer kid.” Raizou said. 

Chazz didn’t bother telling the man that he was wrong about that. He just took a big gulp of his drink, and continued to stare out at the crowd.

“Oh, that kid.” Taiyou said as he started to frown. 

Taiyou looked rather annoyed as he said “That Slifer needs to be taken down a notch.”

Oh, Chazz totally agreed with that. Without even meaning to Chazz felt his free hand drift down to the PDA that was in his pocket. An idea was forming in his head.

“Why don’t we do that then?” Chazz asked. 

His lackeys just stared at him in confusion while Chazz just smirked.

“We can send messages to other students with the PDA, so why not use that feature to issue a challenge to Jaden.” As the black haired boy fished his PDA out of his pocket he said “I can ask him to come to the Obelisk Duel Field at midnight for a duel. I just know that if we send him a challenge he’ll come running.”

Raizou and Taiyou were interested now. Chazz could see the boys starting to smirk at the idea of him dueling Jaden. 

“When does the party end?” Raizou asked.

“In about twenty minutes.” Chazz answered. “Although, there is nothing stopping us from sending the message now.” 

“That sounds like a great idea.” Taiyou said.

“Yeah! It’s better than staying here and waiting for the party to end.” Raizou exclaimed.

Chazz just smirked as he turned to start making his way to his room. 

“Alright, let’s get going boys. We have a duel to prepare for….”

\------------------------------------------ 

The message had been sent.

The duel stage was ready for a fight, and Chazz was already standing in position ready to duel.

The only thing missing was Jaden Yuki.

Chazz frowned slightly as he shuffled his deck once again. He had already shuffled his deck about ten times now, but honestly he had to do something to keep himself busy. He had been waiting for Jaden to show up for about ten minutes now, and he was growing bored.

“You sure Jaden is going to show up?” Taiyou asked from his spot in the stands.

Both of the boys looked just as bored as Chazz felt right now.

“Oh, he’ll come.” Chazz said. “He doesn’t seem like the type to back down from a challenge.”

“I don’t know maybe all that confidence of his is just talk.” Raizou said.

Chazz just shook his head upon hearing that. “No, I really do think he believes that he’s a great duelist.”

“All the more reason to knock him down a peg if you ask me.” Taiyou grumbled out. “If he’s so great why didn’t he at least make it into Ra Yellow?” 

Chazz didn’t respond. Chazz was at least somewhat convinced that Crowler tossed him into Slifer because of his humiliating defeat, but that was more a theory then confirmed fact.

“The kid’s all talk. The only reason he beat Crowler was due to dumb luck.” Raizou confidently said. “Chazz is going to beat him into the ground.” 

“If the kid shows up that is.” Taiyou said with a sigh.

Chazz was about to say something, but the sound of approaching footsteps made Chazz stay silent. The black haired boy quickly turned around just in time to see Jaden and his little blue haired companion walk in.

“So, you finally showed up.” Chazz said as he smirked.

“Of course I showed up!” Jaden said as he walked up onto the arena. “I never back down from a challenge.”

 _‘Good to know.’_ Chazz thought as he activated his duel disk. 

“It’s time to find out if you beating Doctor Crowler was a fluke or not.” Chazz said. 

“Oh, trust me it was no fluke.” Jaden said as he activated his own duel disk. 

“Sure it wasn’t.” Chazz said unconvinced. 

“Are you ready?” Chazz asked.

Jaden nodded, and that was all Chazz needed to see to start the duel.

“Then let’s duel!”

**Chazz: 4000 LP**

**Jaden: 4000 LP**

“I’ll go first, slacker!” Chazz called out as he drew a card. 

Chazz stared at his cards for a moment before he nodded slightly.

_‘Alright, I can work with this,’_ He thought.

“For my first move I play Reborn Zombie in defense mode.” Chazz said as he placed his card down on his duel disk. His zombie appeared on the field with a loud inhuman moan. Its mouth was frozen into a twisted smile that showed off its jagged teeth. 

**Reborn Zombie: 1000 ATK/ 1600 DEF**

“I’ll also put one card face down.” Chazz said. 

Once he was done he motioned for Jaden to start his turn.

“I guess that’s one way to start a duel,” Jaden said. “But I’m going to go a little bigger.”

Chazz didn’t even dignify that with a reaction. He had a feeling he knew exactly what Jaden was going to do, and if Chazz was right Jaden was going to be in for a rude awakening. Jaden drew a card, and upon seeing what he drew he smiled.

**Kuri!**

Chazz jerked back a little in surprise upon hearing that. That cry. That stupid cry. He had heard it before at Jaden’s duel with Crowler. It was the cry of a Winged Kuriboh.

“Chazz?” Are you OK?” Raizou called out in concern. 

Everyone was giving him rather concerned confused looks. Apparently his reaction to the cry was rather noticeable. 

_‘They didn’t hear it. They didn’t hear that cry.’_ Chazz thought with a scowl. 

Why? Why was he apparently the only one hearing it? Was he losing his mind? Chazz shook his head as if to rid himself of his thoughts and stared right into Jaden’s eyes.

“You drew the Winged Kuriboh card didn’t you?” Chazz asked slowly.

Jaden’s eyes widened slightly upon hearing that, but he was able to keep his face in a rather neutral expression as he said “Yes, I did.”

The others boys in the room were looking downright mystified now. They were clearly amazed that he was able to correctly guess what card Jaden had. Chazz felt like groaning in frustration. He didn’t want to go into another spiral of questioning just what the heck was up with Jaden’s strange card. He should have expected that the card would act weird during their duel, but Chazz had been so willing to write it all off as just being an altered card. It was easy to dismiss its lively movement on the duel field as someone having altered the card’s data to make it more lifelike. However, altered or not it should not have been able to let out a cry when it wasn’t even on the duel disk yet. That feeling that he was losing it was starting to bubble up within him, but he did his best to ignore it. Last thing he needed to do now was to start yelling about Kuriboh cards like some sort of manic in front of a bunch of people. 

Chazz was yanked out of his thoughts when he heard Raizou ask “Wow, how did you know he drew that card Chazz?” 

“Lucky guess.” Chazz hissed out. 

Jaden seemed to really be studying Chazz now. The analyzing look on the brown eyed boy’s face looked almost out of place on his face. 

“Chazz, did you…?” Jaden started to ask only to slowly come to a stop.

He seemed unsure of if he should ask his question or not. He honestly looked conflicted, and the mental debate that he seemed to be having seemed to really be taxing his brain. Chazz just scowled upon seeing the look. They were there to duel not play twenty questions about Jaden’s freaky card. 

“Just finish your turn already slacker!” Chazz snapped. 

Jaden looked like he would rather continue asking questions, but his desire to duel must have won out in the end because Jaden just slapped a card down onto his duel disk and continued with his turn.

“I use Polymerization to fuse Burstinatrix and Avian to bring out Flame Wingman in attack mode.”

The creature appeared on the field in all of its glory as it let out a war cry.

**Flame Wingman: ATK 2100/ DEF 1200**

Chazz just stared at the creature with an unimpressed look on his face.

 _‘How predictable.’_ Chazz thought with a mental sigh.

The Winged Kuriboh threw him off his game, but Jaden continuing the duel helped him to get his mind back into things.

“Congrats slacker. You summoned your best monster just like I was hoping you would.”

Jaden looked surprised to hear that, but Chazz didn’t even give the boy a second to say anything. He just activated one of his trap cards so that everyone in the room could now see it.

“Chthonian Polymer do your stuff!”

“What does Chthonian Polymer do?” Chazz heard Jaden’s short friend ask. 

Chazz was about to explain, but just when he opened his mouth he ended up snapping it shut again when he saw Alexis walk into the room. 

“I had a feeling I would find you guys here.” Alexis said as he walked toward where the short silver eyed boy was standing. 

“Chthonian Polymer allows you to take control of an opponent’s fusion monster by sacrificing one of your own creatures.” Alexis said once she was standing next to Jaden’s friend.

Chazz stared at Alexis for a moment before he turned his attention back to the duel. If she wanted to watch him beat Jaden into the ground Chazz was more than willing to let her.

“I sacrifice Reborn Zombie to take control of your Wingman.” Chazz said. 

His zombie disappeared in a flash of light, and in its place Jaden’s Flame Wingman appeared. The monster looked a bit more fearsome when it was under the control of Chthonian Polymer. Instead of a blank face the monster’s mouth was wide open to show off its sharp fangs. It snarled like a wild beast ready to tear its enemies to pieces. 

“How did Chazz know to play that?” Jaden’s friend asked.

 _‘Really?’_ Chazz thought in annoyance.

If anything he thought using a card like this against Jaden would be a no brainer.

“I knew to use this card against Jaden because the guy is predictable.” Chazz snapped. “I saw his Entrance Exam duel. I know he uses mainly Elemental Heroes, and those are pretty fusion heavy cards.”

Chazz motioned toward Jaden as he said “Knowing all that makes it pretty easy to figure out what kind of cards can be best used to ruin his day.” 

“Well, if you know so much about fusions then you should know that summoning Flame Wingman counted as a Special Summon. I’m allowed to summon one monster from my hand.” Jaden pointed out. 

“Then summon one. I don’t have all day.” Chazz snaped.

Chazz was a little worried that Jaden would summon Winged Kuriboh, but he felt instant relief when instead Jaden summoned the Elemental Hero Clayman.

 **Elemental Hero Clayman: ATK 800 / DEF 2000**

“There. All set.” Jaden said as he motioned for Chazz to take his turn.

“Yeah, all set for me to knock you off your feet.” Chazz said as he drew a card.

He smiled when he saw the monster that he drew, and he wasted no time to place it on his Duel Disk.

“Rise Chthonian Soldier!” Chazz cried as his armored monster appeared on the field. 

**Chthonian Soldier: ATK 1200/DEF 1400**

"Now Flame Wingman attack with Skydive Scorcher!” Chazz shouted as he pointed at Clayman. 

The monster quickly flew up into the air, and let out an angry hiss toward the Clayman. The Flameman quickly became engulfed by flames, and once it was on fire the monster launched itself at the Clayman. Clayman was quickly smashed, and once that was done Flame Wingman slowly started to approach Jaden.

“Since Flame Wingman destroyed your monster that means your life points take damage equal to the attack points of your destroyed monster.” Chazz said as he smirked. 

Jaden was immediately engulfed in flames the second those words left Chazz’s mouth. Jaden let out a small cry of pain, but he quickly choked back his cries and gritted his teeth together as his life points fell. 

As the flames died down Chazz said “The pain isn’t over yet! I’m sending my Chthonian Soldier over to make sure that the hurting continues!” 

Chthonian Soldier leapt over to where Jaden was standing, and one single sword swipe was all it took to bring Jaden down to his knees. 

**Jaden: 2000 LP**

As his monsters returned to his side Chazz couldn’t help but feel a slight bit of disappointment. This duel was going pretty well for him. His life points hadn’t even been touched yet, but Jaden’s was already down by half. Chazz had expected a bit more. He was excepting more of a fight from Jaden. He was expecting it to be much harder to whittle Jaden’s life points down. Yet, here he was standing tall with full life point while Jaden was already on his knees.

 _‘His win against Crowler was all luck.’_ A little voice in Chazz’s head cried out. _‘This was a waste of time.’_

Chazz could feel that small flame of excitement that he felt at the thought of dueling Jaden become quickly extinguished. He had been hoping for some excitement, but all he was getting was a quick duel. Just another forgettable duel to add to his long list of already forgettable duels.

_‘At least I have nothing to fear from this kid,’_ Chazz thought.

Chazz probably should have been comforted by that. If his brothers learned that he wasn’t the top freshmen at the school, they would be less than thrilled. The less competition he had the better. Still, that thought didn’t help to dull the disappointment at all. It was a pretty disorienting to be both comforted and disappointed. Jaden seemed to have a gift at throwing Chazz for a loop. It was a gift Chazz really wished Jaden would return because it was doing less than pleasant things to his mental health. As Jaden rose back up to a standing position the boy started to grin. 

“This duel is way too much fun.” The boy chirped out as he looked at Chazz. 

Jaden’s words just served to irritate the gray eyed boy. Fun? He thought it was fun to have Chazz wipe the floor with him?

“What do you mean by fun?” Chazz asked. 

“This stuff is the exact reason I came here. The challenging duels, the trash talking, the action! It’s all so great!” Jaden answered. 

Chazz wasn’t even given a chance to process what Jaden said. The second the boy’s words really settled in his mind Jaden was already making his next move.

“I summon Elemental hero Sparkman.” Jaden called out. 

His side of the field was suddenly filled with sparks of electricity as a hero clad in a blue suit lined with gold sprang out of the ground with a loud war cry. 

**Elemental Hero Sparkman: 1600 ATK/ 1400 DEF**

Sparkman struck a rather heroic pose the second his feet touched the ground. It was a bit over dramatic, but fitting for a monster that belonged to the rather enthusiastic Jaden.

“Alright Sparkman now attack with Static Shockwave!” Jaden ordered as he pointed at Chazz’s Chthonian Soldier. 

Sparkman made a finger gun motion toward Chazz’s monster, and within a blink of an eye a stream of electricity shot out of his fingers and toward Chazz’s monster. His monster exploded once the attack hit him, and Chazz flinched back a bit from the harsh light that resulted from the explosion. His life points also fell a little, but Chazz wasn’t concerned. After all Jaden would be losing life points as well. From the settling dust of the explosion a sword suddenly burst out from the smoke and struck the brunet boy. Jaden flinched a little as his life points started to fall. 

**Chazz: 3600 LP**

**Jaden: 1600 LP**

“Surprise slacker! When Chthonian Soldier’s is destroyed you take the same amount of damage as I do.” Chazz said as he stuck his solider into the graveyard. 

Chazz couldn’t help but smirk as he said “However, the difference here is that unlike me you don’t have the life points to spare.”

Jaden ignored the comment as he put a card face down on his field.

 _‘He can play what he likes. This duel will be over soon enough.’_ Chazz thought as he drew a card.

“I think it’s time we put an end to this. Go Flame Wingman!” Chazz cried out.

His Flame Wingman let out a deep roar as it prepared to strike, but before it could move Jaden reveled his face down.

“Not so fast, Chazz! I’m using my trap Mirror Gate!”

Chazz mentally cursed in his head as the trap took effect. Mirror Gate’s effect switched the side that monster was on which meant that Jaden got his Flame Wingman back, and Chazz was stuck with Jaden’s Sparkman. Chazz felt his annoyance bubble to the surface as he watched Sparkman attempt to attack Flame Wingman only to be swatted away like an insignificant fly. To make things worse Chazz’s life points got a double hit thanks to Flame Wingman’s ability. 

**Chazz: 1500 LP**

“Alright!” Jaden’s little friend cheered.

“Nice moves Jaden.” Alexis complimented.

Chazz didn’t dare look back at his own companions to see what their reaction this was. Chazz hadn’t expected a trap card like that to show up. This wasn’t going to be as easy as Chazz originally thought it would be. Deep down Chazz could feel a slight thrill at the thought that this duel wouldn’t be as simple as he assumed. He might actually get a challenge here. Yet that feeling was overshadowed by dread of the thought of losing to a Slifer Red. It wouldn’t look good for him if he lost to a Slifer Red on his very first day at Duel Academy. Obelisks were not meant to lose to Slifers. That was practically an unwritten rule at Duel Academy. It just didn’t happen. If it happened here Chazz had no way of knowing if Jaden and his little friend would stay quiet about it.

Heck, he wasn’t fully confident that his own companions would stay quiet about it. They wouldn’t take too well to the idea of Chazz losing a duel against a Slifer of all people. If people found out he lost to a Slifer Slacker it would not be good for him. However, if his brothers found out about the loss it would be even worse. Chazz’s blood went cold at that thought, but he quickly shook it off. The duel wasn’t over yet. There was no way he was going to lose here.

“It’s way too early to be celebrating yet.” Chazz said as he pulled out his spell card. “I activate Chthonian Blast. Since you destroyed one of my monsters I can destroy one of yours, and you take damage for half of its attack points.”

A harsh whirlwind surrounded Flame Wingman, and without making a sound the monster was shattered. Over the howling winds Chazz just barely herd Jaden murmur his monster’s name as his life points fell. 

**Jaden: 550 LP**

“I also activate my trap card Call of the Haunted. This card allows me to bring one monster back from the graveyard in attack mode.” Chazz said as he pointed to his field. “And I have chosen to bring my Inferno Warrior back to life.”

As his monster rose from the grave Chazz said “But he won’t be staying on the field for long.”

The monster shattered into shards of light as Chazz said “I’ll sacrifice him to summon Mefist the Infernal General.”

His monster appeared on the field, and Chazz couldn’t help but smile just a bit upon seeing him. His monster stood tall and proud from his spot on his horse. 

However, Chazz’s smile faded when he heard Jaden say “Not bad.”

“Not bad?” Chazz echoed back. 

The man let out a small sound of disbelief as he said “Your something else slacker with all that confidence of yours, but your lousy monsters won’t get you out of this jam.” 

Chazz would have almost admired the confidence at any other time, but right now it was just irritating. 

**Kuri!**

Chazz froze when he heard that cry. He was hearing it again. He was hearing that accursed Winged Kuriboh again. 

_‘I’m losing my mind. I have to be.’_ Chazz thought. 

Even as he thought that he couldn’t help but notice that Jaden was looking at the cards in his hand.

A slight smile was on his face as he murmured “I know he’s wrong Kuriboh because my cards and I have a bond.”

He said it so quietly that Chazz had only barely heard what the brown eyed boy said. It almost made Chazz want to stop the duel right then and there so that he could grab the boy and ask the question that was now swirling around in his mind.

 _Can you hear it? Can you hear Winged Kuriboh’s cry?_

He had to be able to hear it. Why else would he whisper such words to a card unless he knew that it was alive somehow. Chazz could feel the question forming in his mouth. He could feel the desire to ask Jaden if he could hear the card. Yet, he could not bring himself to do so. If he did everyone would think he was crazy. Heck, Chazz felt crazy for even entertaining the idea of asking. His mind was racing with questions, and Chazz was just barely able to register the fact that Jaden was about to play a card. Whatever the card was Jaden wasn’t able to play it. 

Alexis had stepped forward and cried out “Guys we got company! Campus security is coming this way.”

Now that she mentioned it in the distance Chazz could hear footsteps echoing ever so faintly from down the hall. Chazz stood there frozen almost unwilling to turn off his duel disk, but when Jaden turned his off Chazz quickly did the same.

“If they find us here we will be seriously busted!” Alexis continued to say as Jaden started to walk toward her.

“What?!” Jaden’s little friend squawked out in surprise. 

“Why? I mean we are all students here.” Jaden said in confusion, but a look of slight panic was starting to show on his face.

“The rules say no off hours arena duels.” Alexis said as she pulled up the rules on her PDA to show Jaden. “Chazz knows that.” 

She shot Chazz a slight glare as she said “Let me guess he didn’t tell you?” 

Chazz blushed slightly in embarrassment, but he brushed the comment aside easily enough by saying “It’s not my fault the slackers didn’t read the campus rule book.”

Alexis looked like she had some rather harsh things to say to that, but Chazz didn’t give her the chance. Chazz just spun around and walked off of the duel arena without a second thought.

“Come on guys let’s go.” He told his lackeys as he started to leave the arena room.

“Right!” His two goons chimed out as they followed him out.

“Looks like you lucked out this time Slacker!” Chazz called out to Jaden. 

“What are you talking about the match isn’t over!” Jaden quickly said.

“Yeah it is. I saw what I came to see. You beating Doctor Crowler was just a fluke.” Chazz said. 

He sounded confident when he said that, but he didn’t feel very confident. Jaden had been able to turn things around to his benefit, but lucky Chazz had been able to turn the tables soon after. Chazz didn’t know if it was due to pure luck or what, but he could admit at least to himself that Jaden had some small bit of talent for the game. Not that he would say that out loud. If Jaden had a rebuttal to offer Chazz after hearing the gray eyed boy’s words Chazz never heard it. He and his goons were already out in the halls and racing out of the building before Jaden or Alexis could day another word. They raced down the winding hallways in silence doing their best to avoid any campus security that was doing their rounds. No one dared to speak in fear of getting caught, and it was only once they were safely outside of the building did his goons speak.

“It’s too bad you weren’t able to finish your duel Chazz.” Taiyou said. 

“Yeah, but it doesn’t matter. We all know I would have won.” Chazz said without thought.

“True, but it would have been nice to see you wipe that smug look off of his faze.” Raizou said. 

Chazz just nodded in agreement upon hearing that. 

“Well, guess we should go to bed.” Taiyou said. “Good night Chazz.”

“Night Chazz.” Raizou said as he followed Taiyou down that path that would lead to the Obelisk Blue Boy’s Dorms.

“Good night.” Chazz answered back. 

He was about to follow them, but he before he could even take a step forward he heard what sounded like Alexis’ voice in the distance. 

“You certainly are stubborn Jaden.” 

_‘Looks like they took the back way out.’_ Chazz thought.

He was a little bit bummed that Jaden didn’t get caught, but it was what it was.

Chazz was about to just keep walking, but he paused yet again when he heard Jaden say “That’s OK I know exactly how the duel would have ended.” 

Upon hearing that Chazz couldn’t help but sneak over to the building’s back exit. Jaden sounded confident about what he said, and he sounded confident in a way that suggested that Jaden seemed to think he would have won. He found Jaden, Alexis, and Jaden’s little friend standing by the back exit rather quickly. He was careful to hide behind a tree as he listened in to their conversation.

“No offence, but it looked like the duel could have gone either way.” Alexis said. 

“Not if I had gotten to play this.” Jaden said as he held a card up. 

Chazz’s heart seemed to freeze in his chest when he saw that Jaden was holding Monster Reborn.

“With this I could have resurrected Flame Wingman, and I could have used him to defeat Chazz’s monster.” Jaden said cheerfully. 

_‘And if he had done that he would have won the duel.’_ Chazz thought numbly.

Chazz didn’t have any card in hand or on the field that could have stopped that attack. If Jaden had been able to play that card it would have been all over for him. Chazz would have lost in front of everyone. Chazz quickly turned away and hastily made his way back to the Obelisk Blue Boy’s Dorm. The whole time he was walking back to his dorm he repeated the same sentence in his head.

 _He would have won because of dumb luck. That’s the only way he could beat me in a duel._

He really wanted to believe that, but at that moment he couldn’t bring himself to completely believe that. His mind was racing with thoughts about Jaden and his strange Winged Kuriboh card. He didn’t really know what to think anymore when it came to the brunet. The only thing that he did know right now was that he wasn’t going to be sleeping well tonight…


End file.
